I'm testing a level-one MMO field built around a quest giver, training dummy, resource node, and exit path. Without the quest text, which landmark would you move or exaggerate so the intended route reads?

Disclosure: some 3D assets are Meshy-assisted; the layout and gameplay are custom.

Pretty much what the title is asking for. I would prefer a video on Gamemaker on how to make tilesets. As far as buildings and interiors go, the video will show you what it is I'm looking for exactly. I'm making a platformer RPG and I need buildings and interior tilesets for my game. Any help would be wonderful. Video: Super Paper Mario Example

how do you come up with good level design that is fun to traverse what makes for a good level ,vertcial climbs , crawling ,running ,jumping, for first person shooters, im still learning all this thank you for your patience

maybe i should scale it down 5 %

It's Boomer Shooter Saturday again! Come join us for the next 5+ hours starting at 11:00 AM EST as we continue our exploration of the BUILD Engine with a mixture of Level Editing, plus a bit of gameplay.

To start things off, we are working on a Underwater Reactor Puzzle for a Duke Nukem 3D level we have been building on stream, plus some more refinement of the look of the Underwater Research Base that houses it.

Afterwards, we hop back into the third episode of BLOOD: Death Wish for our featured playthrough. Trying to do a 100% secret run, which is how we left off at the start of the Secret Level.

Come join and learn to Build with BUILD!

After designing and building the core areas for our level, we needed a way to fill in the negative spaces fast. That is what PCG enabled us to quickly do.

While level exploration is not an exact science, and every player behaves differently, there are general behaviour patterns that can be considered when designing a free-navigation level. Players tend to be attracted to areas they perceive as offering the greatest and most immediate reward.

In this example, the player needs to find and collect four boxes in any order. The question is: what path do you think they are most likely to take through the level?

The player has the following information:

1. What they can see
2. Their memory of previously visited areas
3. The knowledge that there are four boxes to find and collect

The player’s brain rewards them at two key moments: locating a box and collecting it. These are two separate rewards. Interestingly, locating a box but leaving it behind often gives a smaller sense of reward than the anticipation of finding and collecting another box that might be just around the corner.

Based on this, here’s a typical exploration path the player might take:

1. They see Box D clearly in the distance, with no mystery about its location. “Great, I know where that is.” But they don’t necessarily head straight towards it.
2. Instead, they decide to check the closest unexplored corner, immediately to their left, and find Box A. Great! It seems there might be boxes hidden around corners.
3. Remembering the more distant corner to the right, they backtrack and collect Box C.
4. With no further clues in sight, they now head towards the sure thing: Box D.
5. With all visible areas explored and no new clues, their brain switches to “search mode”.
6. Turning around, they notice something they hadn’t seen before: the skyline opens up between two generic buildings, revealing a path towards an unexplored area.
7. Following this path, they soon discover the fourth and final box, Box B.

This is not a rule, of course. Players will behave differently, and playtesting always wins. Even when players behave exactly as predicted, they usually represent only one segment of the bell curve, and you should not forget about the players elsewhere on that curve. But understanding these patterns is a useful tool for level design.

Mandatory video included after my last post was accused of being AI-generated. This is old, well-known content of mine, but apparently this is where we are now.

Level Design Tips

• 01 - The Building Pie
• 02 - The 5 Ingredients of Game Town Design
• 03 - Designing with Perspective: How Cameras Shape Levels
• 04 - Level Exploration: The Closest Unexplored Area in Sight

Hello guys, I planned on a level design project where I want to create buildings and interiors as realistic as possible. So I wonder If there is any website of 3D floorplan reference of real buildings out there.

This is my first map. I'm a beginner. This is my first time making a map, what should I pay attention to? I deleted the forest map twice and spent a lot of time making the village map. How does it look?

I'm a hobbyist, so I don't have real fundamentals to rely on, but I came up with some things that I try to keep in mind when designing levels. I mostly do movement-based 3d games, so this is somewhat specific.

Intent: "this is an area, where X happens."

Very inspired by like older mario kart or arcade racers, where I think this was super obvious. I want the player to do a certain thing, e.g., tight turns or going flat out. Or it could be an area that is outside of the usual play area so the challenges should also be a little different. Ideally, this is also represented with a change in style or architecture, so it also feels different to other areas and communicates that this should be treated differently than where you were before.

Choice: I try to lay out at least two, ideally three ways to traverse an area.

I try not to force a clear path. The only clear path should be A to B, but how you connect those points should be up to the player. I try to build fun little things to engage with on the way through an area, where you can pick the one that seems the most appealing while not blocking access to the others. For example, if there is a house I want the player to go around, there should be a fun obstacle on either side, or at least a way over the house. This doesn't mean you can't force a player into a tight situation every now and then, but afterwards, it should open up again.

Breaking the Grid: The obvious path should not be the one you end up taking.

This is a small one, but I think it can be effective. Say your level has a road that goes through it, this should not be the path you follow. It should lead you to places off the road, over it, and back to it again. The road should only be the theme, not the thing to engage with. Or, there is a huge obstacle that you would avoid in real life, but the path makes you engage with it. Think of the part in Breath of the Wild where you go to the fish people first. The task is to follow a river, but it's often blocked, and the game sends you on an absolute journey around it while always bringing you back to it.

Any guildelines like this, that you use when creating levels?

Hey!

Just finished my level design project. The location is a quarry for a horde fight set in Days Gone universe. Would love to hear your thoughts, feedback or suggestions:)

You can also view on Artstation page and there's also a gameplay video if anyone's curious.

Cheers

Hello! I am starting the process of building a vertical slice for my game

It is residential building heavy! Also, I need 90% of my buildings to be accessible.

What is recommended to start building these houses and shops?

It feels VERY clunky to build with Mesh.. maybe settings I have not optimized?

Looking for any details and tips.. after building maps in Valve source engine... This seems to lack fine detail in comparison?

it is a 1to1 recreation of the city of paris

you can try it in the demo on steam

When designing levels, the choice of camera system is a critical factor. It shapes not only the technical possibilities, but also the artistic direction and, most importantly, the player’s perception of the environment.

In the image, the same three urban elements, represented by differently coloured shops, are rearranged to show how spatial composition changes depending on the camera perspective.

Camera-Dependent Constraints and Opportunities in Level Design:

🎥 Top-down 2D

• Constraints: With only a limited number of surfaces properly facing the camera, composition is more restricted. This requires careful design to ensure that the environment remains clear and natural on screen.
• Opportunities: Top-down views allow for highly abstracted environments, where composition plays a key role in guiding the player. This perspective is especially useful for puzzle-based gameplay and minimalist design.

🎥 Isometric

• Constraints: The addition of depth introduces challenges with occlusion and visibility, particularly in complex, multi-layered environments.
• Opportunities: Isometric views offer a balance between abstraction and detail, making them perfect for supporting bold and stylistically strong art directions. This perspective allows for intricate, visually captivating spaces that guide player movement while maintaining a strong artistic identity.

🎥 Third-person

• Constraints: As a free camera system, third-person requires careful design and control to avoid disrupting the player’s experience. Mismanagement can lead to awkward angles, camera collisions, and missed cues.
• Opportunities: This perspective is possibly the most natural and immersive, extending the player's field of view to include surroundings that go beyond a fixed cone of vision. This allows for more expansive and creative use of visual cues, enhancing spatial awareness and making it ideal for exploration and action games

🎥 First-person

• Constraints: The narrow field of view can limit spatial awareness, requiring precise placement of visual cues to ensure they are not missed. Complex layouts or excessive verticality can easily disorient players.
• Opportunities: First-person views heighten immersion and place players directly inside the world. However, they demand careful environmental design to maintain navigational clarity and ensure key elements remain noticeable.

The camera system is not just a technical choice. It is a foundational element of level design that influences composition, navigation, pacing, and how the player perceives and interacts with the environment.

But there is one camera perspective missing from the image that holds a special place for me, and that I believe offers its own unique opportunities and challenges.

Can you guess which one it is?

—-

Level Design Tips

• 01 - The Building Pie
• 02 - The 5 Ingredients of Game Town Design
• 03 - Designing with Perspective: How Cameras Shape Levels
• 04 - Level Exploration: The Closest Unexplored Area in Sight

Join us at 11:00 AM EST for Boomer Shooter Saturday where we build with BUILD!

For the start of the stream, come on in for some level editing using the Mapster32 Level Editor for Duke Nukem 3D to create some cool looking 2.5D environments (hopefully). We are still working on concepts and areas for our Underwater Research Base build we started a few weeks back.

After that, stick around as we start our playthrough of BLOOD: Death Wish, Episode Three! Another fantastic (do far) creation from the community that really shows what can be done with the BUILD Engine that powers these games!

Game designers!

A question: what process do you use to develop good levels?

I'm developing a 2D platformer and already have a list of puzzle objects, items, and enemies to use, but actually placing them in the level is proving difficult.

It's hard to tell if the level sections are too big (unnecessary empty space) or too small for the players (feeling claustrophobic).

Since my game requires two players, creating small puzzles that make both players useful, while also fitting the story, is turning out to be quite complex...

Is there anyone who designs levels who can help me out?

• Ultra-Fast Workflow – Build complex structures in under 5 clicks.
• Procedural Mesh Generation – Create custom bridges, ladders, arches, and more without leaving the editor.
• Non-Destructive Editing – Adjust, tweak, and refine in real-time without starting over.
• Lightweight & Optimized – No runtime overhead. Perfect for both prototyping and production-ready projects.

https://youtu.be/cja-0ltuR_E

https://youtu.be/ROm-pxVy04A

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/tools/level-design/macro-arch-322143

I was looking for a tool to do bulk conversion of earthexplorer USGS's GeoTIFF terrain data to PNG earlier today and found out that they are all paid tools!

Here a client-side webapp for doing this conversion for free instead.

AGPL v3 Open source. Fork to extent or put up issues.

https://github.com/Koncreate/GeoTIFF2PNG/tree/main

No AI used all hand drawn by our in house artists.

Write Warz is the storytelling party game where you and your friends build a completely unhinged story together across 8 wild themes.

Write → Vote → Laugh till you pass out.

Only the host needs to own the game so one purchase and that's it!

Will release soon for an old game called Day of Defeat